Tuesday, October 11, 2011

So after contemplating a DSLR for the longest time, i finally pulled my balls (and limbs and any other part of the body worth anything) together, surveyed the shops in 1U (cuz its near and i dun need to stress about cab fairs and distance and more stress) and gutted out my 4.3k on the CANON EOS 60D. (original price 4.1k + free 16G SD card + 18-135mm lens) i added on an extra hi-speed 16G SD card and swapped the flimsy tripod for a more stable one.

i got it from Foto Shangri-La and the sales person there gave me an impeccable deal.

Well. In my opinion, a good deal la.

Other shops were offering 4.5++ and NO 16G SD card and NO tripod even.
They even said that they weren't willing to swap the uber fugly red CANON bag for a cooler black one since it was free. Pfft.

The dude at FotoShangrila spent a whole friggin hour giving me the 101 of using a DSLR camera right there in the shop when i said i didnt know squat about apertures and iso and shutterspeeds. (Got la abit abit from college but i nicely gave back to lecturer already..heh.)

THAT's what you call good service. #SOLD

The other sales persons in the other rival cam shops just didnt make me feel "important" enough for me to fork out my hard earned mothurreffing 4k lor.

Either felt like they were too lansi. or too lacking in knowledge.

ANYWAY the main reason i have been wanting a camera like this was to experiment with videos.

To say that i am not a photo enthusiast would be a lil harsh but i guess i'm just not riding on the wave of still photography.
YET.
Mainly cuz its just too hard.
And i lazy to learn.

But I was, however, not lazy to put my vid shooting amateur skills to the test.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Feel free to comment.
Still learning and getting the hang of things.
But seriously having a ball of a time now.

Thursday, October 06, 2011

It's no secret that i was made to dress up in a rather uncustomary suit recently for a commercial shoot whom an industry friend suggested i "try out".

heads will roll. and so they did.

Considering my very limited TVC experience, I eventually got the role. did the deed. and the completed commercial recently went on air.

And i must say i look particularly awkward to say the least.

Dunno why u all say its funny lor. i didnt laugh. u all laugh so loud for wat?
(must be one of those "when u see urself on camera u're just too selfconsious to find it LOLable" situations. )

Oh well. i still think everyone did an amazing job on set though.
Helpers helped.
Lighters lit.
Shooters shot.
Directors forced us retake each scene again and again and again until our costumes were drenched in our salty bodily residue.

Hear ye hear ye. And behold thee, the making of an orange seabug.

We managed to wrap by 7pm++.

Which is downright early in my experience.

in this shot, chairs. and TV.

Funstuff.
Sweat like mad.
Good workout.
I swear i felt 10kgs lighter by the end of the day.
(which i have no doubt gained back by now la. sob.)

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Friday, September 23, 2011

Is it a designer thing to be able to whip-out some of best designs (subject to opinion, of course) for a client in 1 day or 2 but whimper in agony when it comes to designing a personal project?

When MizzKoh and I started the company that is our businesslovechild, we had so many ideas of how it should look and what persona it should carry and which direction it should follow.

But now that we are getting into the specifics of the so-called "brand identity", we are just killing ourselves trying to get it perfectly right.

We wanted it to look funny. but then after a month we were afraid we didnt look "professional" enough.
We wanted the colours to feel loud and bold, but in the following weeks we came to really appreciate the beauty of a pastel/beige-driven scheme.

We talked about the importance of namecards, but for the card to work, we need to nail down the look, which we dun want to rush out in fear of the impending sienness it could bring.

headache until can die.

I remember Art classes back in Primary School where i'd be gilehappybabi drawing anything according to the theme of the day, but when the teacher handed us a blank piece of art block and told us to "zi you fa hui" (free to express), i panic instantly. Cause there was just too much i wanted to "fa hui" until i dunno where to start.

Give me a full brief with details and i can cook up a storm but hand me a blank sheet and i'll fold.
Too much goes on in my head until i dunno where to start from.

Must think positive.
Must think positive.
Must think positive.

Here are just some sketches i've been working on for our company look and feel.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Despite knowing these people for nearly 10 years, we have NEVER gone on a holiday before.

FYI by holiday, i dun mean 1 day outings where we spend half the day in the car and 3 hours in a mamak stall.

i'm referring to an actual holiday. where we fly. we get in a van together. we get chauffeured to a foreign place (and not fight about who fetches who or who takes turn to drive who where) and then we just lepak for afew days (and not worry about where to go what to do or how to get where).

So anyway after much discussion (in FB, no doubt. love technology and how its destroying our human-to-human interaction. luvit! ) we settled on Lang Tengah.

This was actually the 2nd time oWaiYee and myself were setting foot on the nice sharp corals sands on this island. Our virgin trip here happened 2 years ago. (here. here. and here.) but we stayed in a different hotel on the other side of the island. (which is also reachable by foot)

but somehow this time... the rocks seemed... shorter.

maybe we got taller.maybe the sand washed in and elevated the ground.maybe the world is coming to an end.

i dunno la... but either way it was still damn fun.

just chillin and laying there with no 58342083958034 things on ur mind.

amazing scenery.

seaside Giantess picking off humans for dinner also got.

Ah Jin bending over for me to oil and touch.

karaoke video beach walk.

at night we played lantern like small kids.(since it was Mid Autumn festival tat night)(and we are all small kids at heart)(some still small kid mentally)

i havent touched a lantern in ages.

And surprise surprise it was during one finely served BBQ dinner one day that the Hotel staff came running over to our table and asked if we wanted to see one of the most beautiful things a beach trip could offer - a turtle laying her eggs.

WAH i tell u i literally sprang up wanna fly already.

Our trusty Hotel man lead us to the location not too far away and we managed to witness this fragile creature going about her natural course. Of course with this taking place, the onlookers were beginning to pile up closer and closer till it reached a point that i started to suspect that these people were after more than just a nice glimps of the poor thing.

i really think that they were after her eggs.

When she was done everyone was too busy pulling a paparazzo on the poor thing i think we had it traumatised for life la.

i was thinking "GOOD. pls dun come back. too unsafe for u here."

the poor thing actually got stuck when it was making her way out back to the sea. I'm quite certain if we werent there to help her out she wouldve been maggot food.

it was a really huge turtle

This was taken on the jetty.

There was a private fairytale beach wedding the day before

(ruined by the night storm HAHA)so we took the opportunity the next day to trespass and camwhore.

(i'm not smiling cuz i tot we were doing the wholetraditional-family-portrait-numb-face look)

(thanks for NOT telling me we were going for happy family smiles, guys)

(thanks alot)

nice trip. good friends. cheap stay.

OH YA did i mention tat we were the ONLY guests in the hotel during our stay?we practically had the entire beach to ourselves throughout our visit.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

CANNOT CANNOT. tat's no way to treat a blog i've kept alive for so many years.

Therefore, a quick update:

work has been pretty good.

Just completed the graphics for Field Trip USA: Year 2 on 8TV and we were invited to the press conference at Pavilion few days ago.

Entrance gate. like stepping into my old workplace liddat.

glam cast of the show.

Watching these younglings at the Press Conference really reminded me of how i was when i was (urgh. here it comes..) their age.u know.. noob dude attending events like this with a bunch of friends you just came to acquaint with.Laughing extra loud at random bits of inside jokes when ur friends' get coverage on the show.Basking in butterflies while enjoying your time in the spotlight when asked to go on stage to share ur experience.

the little little things like that.

our artwork on the small screen

so damn #PROUD

these projects really make me feel like our newly established company could actually be going places. i stress on the "COULD".

The uncertainty of work every month still freaks me to the bone but i really stand firm that i made the right decision in life by leaving the dictatorship of a multimilliondolar company.